World Health Organization’s Normative Leadership
WHO issues call for papers
The World Health Organization (WHO) will release a special issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in October 2024. The release of the issue, From Evidence to Impact: Reflecting on 75 Years of WHO's Normative Leadership and Shaping the Future of Global Health, is set to coincide with World Evidence-Based Healthcare Day, an initiative spearheaded by JBI.
WHO has issued a call for papers to help establish the impact of WHO’s normative and standard-setting functions. In particular the call for papers encourages contributions offering fresh country-level perspectives and innovative yet pragmatic proposals to strengthen WHO's role in delivering guidance and normative leadership.
Background
At the core of WHO's mission lies its normative leadership function. This leadership role involves developing evidence-based, ethically-sound guidelines and other normative resources that steer Member States in making informed public health decisions.
WHO's normative leadership extends to moulding legal norms, health policies, and practices within its Member States. WHO produces an extensive array of normative products, including guidelines, standards, classifications, policy options, implementation guidance, learning materials, evaluation methods, and research agendas.
However, past criticisms have highlighted deficiencies in systematic evidence-based approaches, methodological expertise, end-user involvement, and implementation attention within WHO's guidance. To address these concerns, WHO undertook a number of initiatives to enhance guideline transparency and rigor, commencing in 2007.
Despite these efforts, the impact of these changes on WHO's credibility and normative role is unclear. Questions linger about the effectiveness of WHO's normative leadership, avenues for further enhancement, and methods for assessing its future impact.
Shaping WHO’s mandate
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed both WHO's strengths and challenges in terms of normative leadership and global reach. With an eye on the future, including threats like climate change and ongoing conflicts, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization calls for papers to shape WHO's forthcoming mandate.
This call for papers is open to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, encompassing public health decision-makers, researchers, civil society, and community representatives. It encourages innovative yet feasible proposals to fortify WHO's normative leadership and guidance.
Topics of interest include:
- Where has WHO succeeded in its normative leadership role?
- In what specific areas has it successfully shaped global health, and why were these initiatives successful?
- Where has WHO normative guidance been less impactful? If so, why was this the case, and what lessons can be learnt to improve impact in the future?
- What does the future of WHO’s normative function look like, particularly in the context of digital technology and artificial intelligence?
- What aspects of the Organization’s mandate, structure, function and administration need to be further strengthened or changed?
The submission deadline for papers is 1 March 2024.
How to submit your manuscript to the Bulletin
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is a fully open-access public health journal with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries. Established in 1948, the Bulletin aims to make its content as widely accessible as possible, with no associated article-processing charges. With a Clarivate impact factor of 11.1, the Bulletin is one of the top twelve journals in the field of public and environmental health.